If you’ve ever been to London, doubtless you’ve seen (if not ridden) the London Eye

Pic is from our Sept 09 trip

Singapore has it’s own version, called the Singapore Flyer, which they make a point of telling you is BIGGER (by 30 meters in height, or about 90 feet taller) than the London Eye. (Singapore is really into having the “biggest” fill in the blank…Napoleon Complex, methinks).

Sorry, I had a hard time getting a clean nighttime shot from where I was with the different lighting issues going on

Located within walking distance of the Merlion Statue that is iconic in Singapore (see below), the new Esplanade Theater, and Suntec City Mall (until VivoCity, the largest mall in Singapore, land of malls), and tons of hotels, the Flyer makes for a fun diversion. For those who haven’t ridden the London Eye or the Flyer, you get into a giant capsule that very slowly rotates around the frame of the flyer. The entire capsule is glass, allowing you to see in all directions (except down through the floor). When you reach the top of the Flyer, you have an unfettered 360 degree view of Singapore (for more on views, go here). The entire trip is about 30 minutes once you’re in a capsule.

The inescapable Merlion

Obviously you can see further by day, but Ravi and I have only done it once for a date. It actually was quite romantic. We got there around 8 or 9 (close enough that we were worried about being able to reclaim our bags from baggage claim-and checking bags isn’t optional), immediately got on a capsule and were only in with about 7 or 8 other people (including two toddlers whose parents ignored them, which was irritating when one started shrieking for attention and his mom continued to ignore him and talk to her friend). Poor parenting not withstanding, we really enjoyed the views.

The city and highways

The capsule in front of us, and to the right, The Floating Stadium (the world’s largest floating stage…read more here)

The two strange shaped things in the front are theaters and the palace in the back is the old Supreme Court building.

After dinner, we went to Morton’s Steakhouse at the Mandarin Oriental (for the record, expensive but great for romantic or nice dinners). It made for a lovely date. It would likely have been a more romantic date if we hadn’t still be incredibly jet-lagged at the time. We’ll definitely make it back, either on a date or during the day to see how the view is different. You should easily be able to see Malaysia if the day is clear.